


i'm still waking every morning

by aggressivelysketching



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Family Bonding, Family Fluff, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Gen, Light Angst, Sleepovers, because everything i write has to have at least a bit of angst apparently, is toothpaste a valid tag
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-12
Updated: 2018-09-12
Packaged: 2019-07-11 07:28:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,936
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15967589
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aggressivelysketching/pseuds/aggressivelysketching
Summary: It was only a matter of time before Pearl talked to him about healthy routines again, or Garnet told him how badly he’d mess up on the next mission because he wasn’t sleeping. He was sure of that.Steven was so sure, in fact, that when Amethyst came to talk to him, he was completely caught off-guard by her request.“A sleepover?”





	i'm still waking every morning

**Author's Note:**

> This was done as a request from an anonymous asker on my tumblr. The request was ‘can u write a lil fluff fic between Pearl, Garnet, Steven, and Amethyst ?? Maybe a Gem sleepover or something family fluff related.’
> 
> I, uh. Didn’t keep it 100% fluffy. But it’s still family bonding so it fits the request.
> 
> Anyways, this is my first time writing for Steven Universe, so I apologize if I messed up some of the characterization!
> 
> -Sketch
> 
> (title is from the song ‘Colors’ by Halsey)

On the fifth day of sleep deprivation, it was impossible for Steven to pretend that the bags under his eyes were from that night five days ago when he’d stayed up to help Garnet, Amethyst, and Pearl on a mission. The Gems may not have ever become fully adjusted to human culture, but he’d been living with them for so long that they knew the signs of exhaustion, now.

Sure, he did his best to hide the dark circles, but there was only so much he could do with the makeup that Amethyst had decided would be a good present for him (he was pretty sure she just found it lying in the middle of the floor in her room and wanted to get rid of it, though). It was only a matter of time before Pearl talked to him about healthy routines again, or Garnet told him how badly he’d mess up on the next mission because he wasn’t sleeping. He was sure of that.

Steven was so sure, in fact, that when Amethyst came to talk to him, he was completely caught off-guard by her request.

“A sleepover?” he repeated, staring at the purple Gem with comically wide eyes.

“Yeah, man,” she responded, sliding off her perch on the kitchen counter. “We’ve been too busy recently to just chillax and hang out, you know? Plus,” she snickered, “then I’d have a real excuse to eat toothpaste.”

He couldn’t help but feel a tad bit skeptical. Pearl was normally the one to organize things like sleepovers-not to mention how he was sure Amethyst had at least five tubes of toothpaste and two bottles of mouthwash somewhere in one of her garbage piles.

Clearly, she’d noticed his raised eyebrow, as the Gem sighed and continued to speak before Steven could voice his suspicions. “Okay, look, dude. Garnet and Pearl won’t give themselves a break. They both decided to make up for losing some of those corrupted gems five days ago, but neither of them are really up for it.” Still, he didn’t answer, and she groaned, running a hand through her hair. “C’mon, just for tonight? They really need it,” she pleaded, and...

Well.

He could tell she really wanted him to agree.

So despite knowing exactly what could go wrong during a sleepover (the Gems might leave halfway through on a mission, they might notice his reluctance to sleep, he could have another nightmare) he nodded his head, said he was ‘totally up for it!’, and let Amethyst go to inform Garnet and Pearl of the new plan while he sat in his bed thinking over his recent life choices.

 

-

 

The sun set far too early, in Stevens opinion. His three caretakers had left around lunchtime, splitting up to go search for corrupted gems on their own, with the promise that they’d return by sundown. He’d spent the time he had alone setting up blankets, sleeping bags, pillows, and toothpaste, but he’d finished the preparations early, and neither Garnet, Amethyst, nor Pearl had returned.

Without a task to distract himself with, Steven found his thoughts returning to his recent lack of sleep, and how to hide the cause of it from the Gems. Obviously, he couldn’t just sleep and hope for the best. He’d wake up screaming and cause them even more stress. They had enough to worry about-that was the reason for the slumber party in the first place-and they didn’t need to waste time dealing with his nightmares along with everything else.

He could try to exhaust himself to the point where he was too tired to dream, but he’d never been able to tell just how well that worked. For all he knew, he was only worsening the nightmares. The risk was too great. And refusing to sleep at all? That was out of the question. The chances of him falling asleep without even an hours rest as a buffer to keep him focused were too high, bringing him back to square one.

That left him with only one option. It was a stupid, unnecessarily complicated plan, but he was desperate. He’d have to sleep just long enough to ensure the Gems thought he would be asleep throughout the night, and set an alarm on his phone that would wake him up before his traitorous mind could remind him of everything that had gone wrong because of him. Anything was better than giving Garnet, Amethyst, and Pearl another problem they’d feel obligated to solve.

The crystalline ringing that signified the warp pad had been activated cut through his thoughts. The orange glow of the sunset was overtaken by the blue hues of the warp stream for just a few moments. He sat up, swinging his legs over the edge of his bed, and peered down into the main room of the house. Sure enough, the three Gems were stepping off the piece of advanced technology, observing the the piles of blankets and pillows covering the floor.

Amethyst was the first to speak. “Hey little man, where’d you run off to?”

“Up here!” Steven called back, pushing himself off the edge of the mattress. Grabbing his phone, he bounded down the stairs, flashing a bright grin at the Gems. “Are you ready for a slumber party?” he cheered as he fiddled with the sleeves of his pajamas, hoping that they’d assume his inability to stay still was from excitement rather than anxiety.

Amethyst barked out a laugh as she made her way to the kitchen, pulling open the door of the fridge. “We’re not ready until we have the pizza, duh!” she retorted, taking out a box that had been haphazardly shoved onto one of the shelves. She quickly got to work, dumping the pizza onto a plate that was way too small for all eight slices. She found a solution to that problem quickly, though-she stacked the triangles into two wobbly towers, and shoved the plate into the microwave, setting it to heat up their food for a full minute.

She turned back to the other two Gems, placing a hand on her hip. The expression on Garnets face was unreadable. “Now, we’re ready.”

Pearl eyed the pizza disdainfully, shaking her head. “Personally, I would’ve been just fine without pizza.”

“Yeah, uh, that’s because you’re lame, P.”

“Excuse me?!”

“Guys, guys!” Steven interjected, holding his hands up in a placating gesture. “We’re supposed to have fun, not fight! Amethyst and I can eat the pizza, and Pearl doesn’t have to eat any. No one is lame.”

For a moment, he feared the Gems would continue to argue, but the high-pitched beep of the microwave distracted Amethyst. She sniggered as she snatched the plate, a worryingly mischievous smile on her face. Dread began to pool in his stomach-he recognized that look. She had an idea, and it probably wouldn’t be one that was good for anyone but her.

“I wonder how toothpaste would taste on pizza.”

 

-

 

Despite Stevens protests, Amethyst had squeezed an entire tube of toothpaste on her pizza, luckily sparing his four slices. Instead of just throwing out the plastic, she dropped the container on top of her so-called ‘homemade delicacy’ and shoved it into her mouth. She smiled wide, revealing her teeth were covered in mint-colored goop and flecks of tomato sauce. Pearl had made a remark on how her breath might actually smell decent for once in their very long lives, but she decided that taunting Amethyst wasn’t in her best interests after the purple Gem threw a glob of toothpaste right into her hair.

For a while, Steven managed to keep the three from checking the time (and keep his mind off the inevitable moment they’d realize it was time for him to sleep). They occupied themselves with video games, watched three different movies, and even played charades for about half an hour. Amethyst kept shapeshifting and giving away the answer, and once she was bored of that she started transforming into the most random objects she could think of, which caused them to abandon that idea sooner rather than later.

Eventually, long after the moon had reached the middle of the night sky, Pearl finally took notice of just how late it was. “Oh, stars, it is far past your bedtime!” she proclaimed, turning to face Steven. “It’s almost three in the morning, according to that clock. You need to go to bed.” She picked up the remote, pushing the button that would power off the television.

“Awww, Pearl!” Steven whined. “I’m not tired!” Even as he spoke, he fought to hold back a yawn. Truthfully, he felt like he could pass out against his bed at any moment, but that wasn’t an option. He’d set the alarm, but his phone wasn’t with him at the moment-it was still downstairs.

“No buts,” Garnet said. “You’re going to sleep.”

“Fine,” he grumbled, knowing he just needed to get downstairs. He got to his feet unsteadily, and if it weren’t for Garnet catching him, he probably would’ve fallen.

“Maybe I should carry you,” the fusion suggested in a light tone. Presumably taking his lack of protest as agreement, she picked him up as she stood. Shooting a warning glance at Amethyst, who seemed about ready to burst into laughter, she began to make her way down the stairs, the other two Gems following her.

Gently, she set Steven on the carefully arranged stack of blankets that the three had agreed he should sleep on. As he lay his head on the pillow, he relaxed, knowing his phone was somewhere under the pillowcase. His alarms would wake him up he was sure-Garnet, Amethyst, and Pearl wouldn’t learn of his awful sleeping habits today.

He listened to the soft rustles of the other sheets and sleeping bags on the ground, knowing the Gems were settling into their own makeshift beds. Surrounded by his family, laying on the soft comforter taken from his mattress, he could almost convince himself he’d be safe sleeping. A yawn escaped his mouth, and he burrowed into the blankets, unable to keep his eyes open any longer. Not a minute later, he was already deep asleep.

 

-

 

“You got the phone?” Amethyst whispered.

“Of course I do,” Pearl hissed back. 

“Quiet,” Garnet interrupted. “This entire plan was to get Steven to sleep. Don’t wake him up now.”   
The two bowed their heads, muttering apologies in unison. 

“Do you think this will even work?”

“Yes, Amethyst. Don’t worry.”

“It’s a little hard not to worry when he clearly hasn’t been sleeping for almost a week.” Pearl crossed her arms. “We’ll just have to wait and see. Hopefully he’ll stay asleep for a while. He really needs it.”

“I think he will. Let’s return to the living room-he spent a lot of time on setting up the sleeping bags. We shouldn’t let them go to waste.”

 

-

 

Hours later, when Steven woke, he was greeted by three smiling faces.

“It’s about time you got up!” Amethyst plopped down next to him. “It’s past lunchtime by now!”

“Quiet, Amethyst,” Pearl cut in. “Good morning! Or maybe good afternoon would be the correct greeting at this hour?” She shook her head. “Good  _ afternoon, _ Steven. Did you sleep well?”

And as he pondered both her question and her strangely hopeful tone, he realized that yes, he’d slept well. He wasn’t sure what had happened to his alarms, but he’d slept through the night-and apparently the entire morning-without being woken up once by a nightmare. He felt more rested than he had any day in the past week.

“Yeah,” he responded. “Yeah, I really did.”

**Author's Note:**

> Come yell at me for being bad at writing endings on my tumblr, [spookilysketching!](https://spookilysketching.tumblr.com/)


End file.
